by Kate Keir
“I think he’s hiding a ton of stuff from us,” Lyall growled, his amber eyes burning as he stared in the direction Eric had taken.
“I agree,” I murmured. “I’ll find out what later, though.”
Lyall tapped his fingers thoughtfully against the polished wood of the tabletop. “Make sure you push him, love. I want to know everything that could help us win this war.”
Artair’s voice pulled my attention away from Lyall’s dark gaze. “So, where do we start with these manuscripts?”
I shrugged. “Truthfully, I don’t think there’s going to be enough time to find out very much. Once I get the information and the box from Eric, we need to get back to the terminal, so we can start planning how to get Sluag inside the box.”
Lyall finally brought his attention back to our table. “Flora’s right. As soon as she gets the box and the information, we’re out of here.”
“Talking of the terminal, I need to call the others and check on Pen.” Enid stood up to go and make the call.
“I hope everyone back home is okay,” I whispered as I watched Enid leave.
Lyall and Artair were both reaching for some of the manuscripts that were strewn across the centre of the table.
“Of course, they’ll be okay, love. Bear won’t let a thing happen to Freya, and Finlay has Pen’s back.” Lyall spoke with confidence.
I tapped my index finger distractedly against the dark green cover of a huge book. “I hope you’re right,” I said softly.
Chapter Seventeen
We spent several hours in the atrium of the library, scouring every manuscript we could get our hands on. Enid returned from calling home to bring us the news that Freya and Bear were doing well and had a lot of success in using the converted Draugur to fight on their side.
The news from the hospital was more troubling. Pen was slipping away again. It seemed Sluag’s blood was wearing off quicker than we had hoped. Lyall and I explained to the others that Pen probably didn’t have much longer left, and it left a quiet cloud of sadness over our table.
So, I was half relieved and half nervous when a young librarian came to tell me Eric was ready to see me.
I followed the boy—who could only have been around fourteen—through the stacks until we reached a wooden door with a frame so low I had to duck to enter the stone room inside.
The boy closed the door behind me, and Eric gestured for me to sit down in a black wooden chair that, along with the table, took up almost all of the space in the tiny room.
There was a box sitting on the table-top that was around the size of a ring-box. It was carved of blue wood and engraved with hundreds of tiny flowers which I immediately recognised.
I reached out to touch the box in surprise and awe. “Those are the flowers from the Everwood.”
Eric gently pushed the little box across the table toward me. “Well spotted, Flora. The box is made from the wood of a tree from the Everwood.”
I frowned as I picked up the small box and studied it. “But, the trunks of the trees in the Everwood aren’t blue. Just the flowers.”
He smiled at me. “They are Síorraidh trees. On the outside, the bark looks like any ordinary tree. On the inside they are as blue as their flowers.”
“Being from the Everwood gives the box the power to capture Sluag’s soul,” I mused.
Eric’s voice was stern. “No, not the power to capture his soul, just to hold it for eternity. The power to capture it comes entirely from you, Flora.”
I sensed he wanted to say more, and I suspected I wasn’t going to like it when he did. But he changed the subject instead.
“Penthesilea is critically ill.”
It wasn’t a question but I answered him anyway. “Yes.”
He nodded at me, his soft brown eyes filled with sadness. “We have seen the end for her, and it is not far away, Flora. You must prepare yourself.”
I had known we were going to lose Pen, but some stubborn part of me had refused to believe it, until now.
“Can’t we do something?” I whispered.
Eric spoke softly and with complete sincerity. “Child, what would you have us do? We are not here to change the natural order of things. In fact, you are here to do the exact opposite.”
“I know but I need her, Eric.” I bit my lip in an attempt to hold back the tears that threatened to fall.
He reached his hand out to cover my own, comfortingly. “You will have everyone you need with you, when the time comes.”
Each time I grew a little more in confidence as a Soul Keeper, something happened to knock me right back down to the frightened little girl I became when I lost my parents.
Pen had stepped up and taken care of me when I had no one left in the whole world. She had done that for each and every one of us, and now I was supposed to just let her die.
I stared at the box that was gripped tightly in my hand and directed my rage in the only way I knew how. “How do I make sure I put Sluag in here?”
“I believe you already know that process, Flora. I wanted to speak with you alone because I needed to make sure you were fully aware of the cost.” Eric squeezed my hand as he spoke.
His words made my blood run cold. “What will be the cost?” I asked quietly.
He withdrew his hand and sat up straighter in his chair. “I have consulted with all of our seers over and over again. They seem extremely confident that you will succeed in dislodging Sluag’s soul and trapping him in the Síorraidh box.”
I smiled weakly. “Well that’s about the best news I’ve had all year, Eric.”
He held up a hand. “That was the process, Flora. We are yet to discuss the cost.”
My shoulders sagged, the injured one throbbing slightly. “Tell me?” I asked.
He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment before he spoke. “Remember there are no guarantees. What our seers have been shown may change with circumstance and because of the decisions you make.”
“Eric?” I was fidgeting now.
“All right, Flora, but steel yourself. It seems that you truly are the Soul Keeper chosen by fate to end Sluag. But, the sacrifice for stopping Sluag’s reign in the Endwood will cost most of you your lives.”
I drew in a sharp breath. “How many is most?”
“I don’t know, Flora. I honestly don’t know.”
I took several deep breaths before I asked my next question. “Do you know who?”
He was quiet for so long I was beginning to think he had forgotten how to speak. His eyes flickered as though there was a war of indecision going on behind them, and I knew he was trying to choose whether or not he told me the next part.
Finally, he spoke. “Lyall is almost certainly going to die, Flora.”
All of the breath rushed out of me, my head started to spin, and I felt the cold trickle of nausea running up my throat which indicated my body’s desire to pass out. I wanted to scream and cry and break things.
“No. There must be another way,” I managed through my breathless throat. “If it comes down to me or him, then it can be me. I’m ready for that, Eric.”
Eric looked at me pityingly. “It doesn’t come down to you and him, Flora.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean?” I growled.
“You already know how to stop the casualties of the coming war, Flora,” Eric insisted.
I cast about frantically inside my mind, but I had no idea what he meant. All I could think was that I had to do whatever it took to stop Lyall from dying.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Eric. Tell me what to do?”
“If you stop the veil from being torn down, then Sluag won’t come to the mortal world, and you will have no need to fight him at a disadvantage.” Eric spoke so quietly I had to lean forward to hear him.
Realisation dawned on me, and my world came crashing down around me. It was always going to come down to this, the choice between the life of my best friend and the life of the man I loved.
&nbs
p; “Finlay,” I whispered brokenly.
“I’m so sorry to do this to you, Flora, but if the Super Draugur are destroyed then the veil will not fall and Lyall will almost certainly live.”
“I can’t choose between them, Eric. Don’t make me do that,” I whimpered.
Eric took both of my hands in his own and stared sadly at me. “You must choose. That is your responsibility and yours alone, Flora Bast. If you end Finlay’s existence, then all of the other deaths will probably be avoided. If you let Finlay live, then you could lose many of your Dion, and you almost certainly will lose Lyall.”
Chapter Eighteen
I had returned to the library in a daze, clutching hold of the box as though my life depended on it. Enid and Artair were delighted we had everything we came for, but Lyall eyed me with suspicion from the minute I got back—he knew something was wrong.
I did the only thing I could think of. I closed myself off to everyone, including Lyall. I couldn’t tell any of them what Eric had told me, because that would force me to face up to the decision I had to make.
Deep inside I was aware that I had probably made my decision before I left that tiny stone room, and I was sure that no one else would agree with me, which was why I kept my mouth shut.
As I had stood to leave, Eric had caught hold of my hand and pulled me close to him. He spoke with a quiet desperation.
“Flora, Finlay’s host is failing. Even a Super Draugur body cannot contain a Dion’s soul. There is no real choice to make. After Finlay loses this body, there will be nowhere left for him to go. He will ask you to send his soul on anyway. All you are doing is speeding the process up.”
I had torn my hand back from Eric’s, fury filling every fibre of my body. “It’s not the same thing, and you know it. You’re asking me go back to the terminal and obliterate my best friend’s soul like a rogue? I can’t do that, Eric. I won’t,” I shouted.
He spoke calmly, despite my hysteria. “Flora, you have a future with Lyall. He is your bonded Dion. Everything is simply happening in the way it was fated to be. If you spoke to Finlay, I am certain he would offer his soul to stop Sluag from breaching the veil.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking,” I spat. “You said it yourself. All of the visions are subject to changes and the decisions we make. There are no guarantees either way that we will win. If there’s even a small chance I can save both of them, then I have to try.”
Eric shook his head sadly as I opened the door to the library. “If you don’t act now, you may lose them both, Flora.”
“Yeah? Well maybe I’m in the mood to take a gamble.” I threw my parting words to Eric as I slammed the door behind me and left him still sitting at the small table.
The manuscripts hadn’t told us anything we didn’t already know, and so we decided to cut our losses and start the long journey home straight away.
Changing into my wolf shape was excruciatingly painful due to the wound on my shoulder. I had almost given up after five full minutes of trying to move through the phases and continually ending up on my knees in agony each time.
When I finally managed to shift, I was surprised and pleased to find that my wound didn’t hurt so much. Once I had checked the collar that held the Síorraidh box was secured around my furry throat, I was grateful for the solitude inside my own head as we ran for the north.
Lyall ran next to me, and he kept shifting his gaze toward me and studying my face. I was grateful that wolf faces didn’t betray emotions in anything like the same way a human face did.
Once or twice he tried to question me.
What happened with Eric, Flora?
I rolled my white shoulders in a shrug. Nothing. We just didn’t agree on the best course of action.
Lyall huffed at that and continued pushing me. He might have been giving you sound advice, love. He has an army of seers at his beck and call, after all.
I growled, deep and low in the back of my throat. He said it himself, it’s all subject to change. None of it is guaranteed.
Talk to me, Flora. Tell me what’s upset you so much, please? He whined softly.
Lyall, I’m not doing this right now. Give me a little space, okay? I accelerated my pace and put a few metres between us. I chose to run this way for the rest of the journey, and although I could sense how hurt he was, Lyall didn’t push me again.
After two days of pushing ourselves to the limits, we made it back to the terminal, and I was shocked by how relieved I was to see the dull and derelict frontage of the building we now called home.
Freya came out front to meet us, and I trotted over to her and lifted my head to give her access to the Síorraidh box beneath my chin. She unfastened the collar and turned the box over in her hands.
“Pretty.”
I bobbed my head in a nod and bounded inside the terminal to get cleaned up. Lyall, Artair and Enid followed suit and before long, all six of us sat together around the battered and broken table.
“So, what did the librarians have to say?” Bear was sitting closer to Freya than I had ever seen him get, and I cocked an eyebrow inquisitively at the pair—something had changed while we were away.
Lyall answered him. “The box that Flora brought back will trap Sluag, and they seem to think that we have a good chance of stopping the end of the world.”
Freya turned the box over and over in her hands. “So, the veil won’t fall?”
I stayed silent, awash with guilt and shame.
“Afraid it’s not that simple, Freya,” Artair answered her. “It sounds as though the veil has to fall before we face Sluag for the final time.”
“At least that’s what the seers have been shown,” Enid explained.
“Doesn’t that mean that a lot of people could get hurt or even die?” Bear asked.
“We’re doing the best we can. What else do you want? More blood?” I snapped.
Freya frowned. “Whoa, there was no need for that, Flora. We’re all worried about what’s coming next, you know.”
I bit my lip as Lyall gave me a concerned look. “Is everything okay, love. Why don’t you tell us what Eric said to you?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. He was trying to put me on the spot in front of the others. He wanted to leave me no choice but to tell them all what Eric had told me.
I stood up so quickly my chair toppled backward and landed against the floor with a crash.
“There will be time for planning how to get Sluag into the box later. Have either of you been to visit Pen while we were away? Or were you too busy with each other?” I hated myself for how unfair I was being.
A look of anger flashed across Freya’s face as she jolted her body farther away from Bear’s.
“Yes, we’ve been to see her. She’s dying, Flora, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Although it was only what I already knew, the words were like a slap across the face and a knife to my heart. It’s too soon. I’m not ready.
A little of the anger left me, and my exhausted body sagged. “I’m sorry, Freya, all of you. I’m tired and my shoulder hurts like hell. I’m going to try and get a few hours of rest, and then I want to visit Pen.”
Lyall stood. “I’ll come with you.”
I held my hand out toward him and shook my head. “I really need to take a bit of time to myself tonight, Lyall, okay?”
He was hurt, but he simply nodded and sat back at the table with the others as I crossed the room and clicked the bedroom door closed behind me.
I lay in the darkness for half an hour. I could hear the hum of voices from the other room. I knew the others were probably talking about me, but I couldn’t make out any of what they were saying, and I probably didn’t actually want to know.
Eventually I made my decision. Lyall had made me promise not to go back to the Endwood in person, but he hadn’t said anything about going back in dream form. I closed my eyes and willed myself back to the grim landscape of Sluag’s realm.
Chapter Ninete
en
Immediately, as I materialised in the Endwood, I realised something was different. The trees were still blackened and charred, and the grass remained the colour of ink. But the nighttime sky and the cold, yellow moon had been replaced with a crimson-coloured canopy that promised a coming dawn.
The fire of a new day blazed above me. Spears of rose-gold pierced through the blood-red clouds. It looked like how I would have imagined the skies of hell to look. If hell had existed.
“I didn’t think I’d see you show your face here again, Flora.”
I spun around to find Sluag sitting comfortably on a golden throne that absorbed the light of the sky above, as it nestled among the black grass.
“You’ve upgraded from your tree stumps.” I gestured to the throne as I spoke.
He snickered. “Tree stumps are all well and good for The Host of the Unforgiven Dead. A throne is more satisfactory for the Ruler of Earth.”
“You’re not there yet, Sluag,” I ground out through clenched teeth.
The grey-scaled monster raised his arms above his head in an all-encompassing gesture. “Look around you, Little Dreamer. It won’t be long until I am the Lord of Everything.”
I looked up at the sky and then dropped my gaze back to meet Sluag’s eyes. “Why has the sky changed colour?”
He beamed at me in delight. “Won’t you sit, Flora?” He gestured at the floor in front of him as he spoke.
“I’m good, thanks.” I refused.
He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
I didn’t reply. Instead, I waited patiently to hear him tell me what had changed within the Endwood.
Sluag sighed heavily. “Oh, Little Dreamer. You are less and less chatty by the day.” He settled his elbow on the arm of the throne and brought his chin down to rest on his curled fist.
“I suppose tragedy does somewhat dull a human’s ability to stay positive,” he murmured thoughtfully.
“I’m not really human, though, am I?” I offered.
He considered me for a moment. Then, “Close enough.”
